Mistakes, errors, and flubs

I did not try to steal this!

Living in a foreign county can make you feel rather simple at times. You miss clues that are obvious to natives of the culture but that are invisible for you. You begin to remember how you felt when you were 3 years old and your parents took you out into the adult world. As a child, you would look up and around in awe at everything -- some of it fascinating, some of it scary. But your parents were there to help make sense of everything and to hold your hand…and you could navigate the world safely.

Now you are again in a foreign country where you have already spent more than 8 months during a 10-year period. And you still get sometimes get confused but have no hand to hold.

It can be a daily struggle. You make mistakes. I call them "mistakes" because they just happen like that. Sure, you make mistakes back in your homeland (get in the wrong line, lose the word for something, etc.), but they just don't seem so discouraging.

I thought I would keep a running list of all my mistakes for the past two weeks:

• forgot my key -- locking us out of our apartment for the first time ever
• used my credit card for a 27-cent purchase when I had a fistful of euros because of …reasons that would need another post to describe
• purchased a big bag of coffee beans when I have never ever had a bean grinder either here or in the United States and do not even drink coffee
• walked past my tram stop in the desperate cold way down to the next one -- from which the tram departed and next stopped at the one I should have been at (but I was not there)
• bought an 8-euro ticket that I promptly dropped into an unreachable area between the sales counter and the candy rack (the salesclerk cheerily told me that when things drop down there they are hard to get -- and she promptly sold me another 8-euro ticket)
• put the wrong sticker on the self-serve pastry bag, and appeared to be a pastry thief ("sir, that is two pastries, not one pastry")
• succeeded in having a bus driver stop the bus to let me off in a place that definitely was not the bus stop because it was actually a snow drift that I had to climb over ("this American seems to want off here, so I suppose he knows what he is doing")
• put the fabric softener in the washing detergent slot, and the washing detergent in the fabric softener slot, and "washed" the clothes (my report: it all came out fine, so I suspect some sort of scam with this cleaning routine)
• convinced myself I would really like salted, fried Baltic herring this time but I did not when I took a bite in a public place
• could not figure out for several days how to answer phone calls on my university-supplied Samsung phone (ok, you swipe that button onscreen because pressing it does nothing); I blame easy iPhone habits that have spoiled me, btw.
• purchased three sepia ink pens when I intended to buy three black ink pens -- even though the packaging was in English, it said SEPIA on the top, and the color of the nice drawing on the package was sepia.
• pushed when I should have pulled, pulled when I should have pushed -- countless times on numerous doors (see: Helling Helsingissä: Once again: Finnish doors (hellinghelsingissa.blogspot.com). This is an ongoing, eternal issue.

But I am happy to report that the list of things I am doing right is too long to publish here. It's just that these things don't seem to affect me as easily as those other things I do...and no one congratulates me when I do the right thing.

Forward like grandma in the snow

I was told by a Finn that to endure takes persistence. And persistence is the Finnish character, as anyone who spends some time in Finland soon learns...especially in winter. I am not saying that winters in Helsinki have been colder or even snowier than in Indiana, however. In fact, Helsinki weather can be quite temperate compared to the sub-freezing plunges of the Mid-West. But gray skies, less daylight, and snow just seem to last a lot longer in Finland.

The Finns have many expressions and even words (see "sisu") to express their character, but the expression I learned most recently is:

Eteenpäin kuin mummo lumessa. --> Forward like grandma in the snow.

And that is a good attitude to have when it is cold, dark, and snowy. The grandmas are moving through the snow here, with their ski poles, doing Nordic walking (sauvakävely).

Winter gravel time, part 3

I finally saw how all that gravel gets tossed on the sidewalks. These orange trucks drive around and throw gravel like American street-department trucks throw sand and salt. Using gravel is a very clean concept compared to sand and salt. I was told that the gravel is cleaned up in the spring by trucks with big vacuum attachments, cleaned, stored in silos, and then re-used the next season. How efficient! But this winter in Helsinki, the gravel is losing the battle because it then snows again, which then gets packed down with the gravel, which then turns once more to ice -- and the sandwiched gravel seems to be more for decorative effect than for traction.

How are the pedestrians faring? Most are adept at doing what is called here the "penguin walk," so just imagine big penguins moving around the city, carrying bags and pushing strollers. Yet many just plod on as if nothing were at risk. I have seen a few slips and slides, and today I actually saw a middle-aged male Finn fall on his bottom with a loud plop but just get right back up resume walking as if falling on ice were a common occurrence to be tolerated. Nothing to see here. As for me, I have not fallen yet, but I have come close and have had many "whoa" slip moments. I have even been in situations where I have stopped to consider alternate routes and detours. Do I want to walk here or over there? Can I grab onto this, or hold onto that? And I have finally tried using the pull-on mini-spikes that a Finnish friend loaned me, which make a nice sound when I move along, much like a high-school football player makes when leaving the field and going into the locker room. Or a tap dancer, ready to break into a routine. Neither of which experience I have ever had. Do the spikes work? I need to test some more, but at least I make a confident noise now as I cross treacherous patches that test my new penguin-walking skills.

Once again: Finnish doors

My survey on doors is ongoing. I can't believe that Finnish doors are the most frequent topic of my blog posts, starting back on September 21, 2013: "You have a 50/50 chance to succeed"

And resuming with "Another time around in Finland" (February 17, 2020)...and then:

"My survey on doors is complete" (March 1, 2020)

"My survey on doors is *not* complete" (March 6, 2020)

I will be brief: I have not mastered Finnish doors in my absence (lack of practice is my excuse). And it is not just me. I see my wife, Jane, experience that same moment that I do every day -- even using the same door one has used countless times before.

You come up to a door, reach for the handle, and then make a face and a low "hmmmm" sound when you pull instead of push, or you push instead of pull.

It is a hard feeling to describe -- a mixture of surprise, confusion, and even embarrassment at your continued failure at the 50/50 odds that you would gladly accept in Las Vegas. I still get a bit nervous at the approach to any door handle, and I really have begun to appreciate the amount of self-opening doors in Helsinki...although I did get stuck in one of those self-opening rotating doors...but that is a story for another day.

That is not how you say "poop" in Finnish

Anyone who is familiar with translation knows the dangers involved, even when expert humans do the translating. Computers provide just as much entertainment.

The most popular translation service, Google Translate, is so easy to use, however, that we all tend to trust it, at least for small things. Google has a reputation of doing some languages better than others, which makes sense since some languages are more complex than others -- for example, Latin and Ancient Greek. Fortunately, I don't often need a quick and reliable translation from Latin or Ancient Greek into English. Finnish to English is my need. And Google can serve me well at many times; it does help that I know enough Finnish to suspect the less accurate translations. I suspect, however, that Finnish ranks up there with Latin or Ancient Greek….

What is one of the best Google tools? The camera app on Google Translate comes in handy! Just point and focus, move the camera around a bit to focus, adjust the light if necessary, move up and down, tilt slightly, wait a few moments, and you have a translation that either enlightens you (oh, that is what they were saying!) or leaves you wondering (er, my Finnish is not great, but I suspect something is wrong here!).

I use the Google Translate camera for reading things in books. For example:

I know that says "I am Samuli. My [???] wife is Sunee." I did not know the "avo" before "vaimoni" (my wife) that makes up the word "avovaimoni." So, on to Google Translate camera:

Well, that can't be right! Not in a textbook intended for beginning Finnish students!

After paging through all the "avo" entries in my small paper dictionary, I saw the word "aviovaimo" (with an extra "i"), which means "wife." Can that be it? A typo in the book? I think not.

Putting "minun avovaimoni" in Google Translate returns "my unmarried wife"

Putting in "avovaimoni" returns "my stepmother"

Putting in just the stem of the word "avovaimo" returns "open wife"

OK, I can take that last translation and extrapolate and not think I have learned the Finnish word for "poop."

Winter gravel time, part 2

So how well does the gravel work? This week has been a good test because we have had very cold temperatures, more snow dusting, and then warm temperatures. In the meanwhile, countless people have used the graveled walkways, compacting the snow into gravel-speckled ice.

The results have been promising for anyone who likes to ice skate or slide. And who enjoys a certain risk.

My new Finnish vocabulary term is liukas (slippery).

And now I can practice saying "Tämä on liukasta!" (This is slippery!). Or even better: "Se oli liukasta" (That was slippery!), to be used after I slip, as a warning to others...or maybe as a Finnish conversation starter -- that I could participate in only if my witnesses were three years old or younger. I would need, of course, to wait until the giggles died down in order to make myself understood.

What is the solution to a slippery path? Why, more gravel, of course!

I have not yet seen gravel being officially distributed, however, and wonder how it must be done. By official workers who come by in trucks, at night? But I have encountered at least one distribution tub for my apartment. Maybe normal citizens are encouraged to participate.

I have to admit that the walk I took today was very treacherous. A lot of baby steps, hesitations, and gentle foot placements. I have not yet seen anyone else slip, however, besides my poor wife, who ended up on the ground, thankfully unhurt, just after I said "let's go this way, it seems less slippery...." And many people are pushing strollers, riding bikes, and jogging as if to defy the conditions.

As I walk the slippery slopes of Helsinki, I cannot help but imagine the windfall for personal injury lawyers if this were the US. Is that not a concern here? Another matter to explore.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter gravel time

There is no shortage of rocks in Helsinki. Granite sticks out from the ground all over; the city is famous for its solid bedrock.  Numerous old streets are constructed with cobble and paving stone. Many stone buildings from past and present times still stand solidly about. The more recent (1969) Temppeliaukio Church was even built into solid rock, and that's why it's known as the Rock Church (https://www.myhelsinki.fi/en/see-and-do/sights/temppeliaukio-church).

I like to imagine that all the little rocks strewn about in winter are locally quarried from what seems to be an endless supply…but let's just assume this common gravel could come from anywhere. And be spread anywhere.

A frequent winter observation is made on the gravel that Helsinki uses after a snowfall to pepper streets and especially the sidewalks -- or wherever it's assumed someone wants to move about. American tourists often wonder why Helsinki, which obviously must be accustomed to snow during the winter, does not clear its streets in the same way as is done in the US. Cities and towns in the US try to scrape all snow from streets and sidewalks, or from any surface where a car or person could possibly go. We scrape away until down to the surface, often aided by salt, sand, or fancy chemicals. A surface that is not completely clean of snow is considered a shame on city officials or homeowners responsible for the property. Compact snow (i.e., ice) on stairs causes murmurs of concern from passersby and gasps from those who need to navigate, especially down. Injuries are imagined, sometimes realized, and then recreated for lawyers and insurance adjustors.   

But not so in Helsinki. I know the slip-and-fracture rate rises at times here, yet it almost seems to be part of the risk Helsinkians are willing to run (or ride: I have never seen so many bicyclers pedaling away on conditions that render American bicyclists housebound).

In Helsinki, a lot of snow seems to get mushed up into long-lasting sludge or packed solid by tires or footfalls. And only then is it time to…spread gravel on it. Why the use of gravel in place of any other snow-fighting activity or material?

These stairs seem to be advertising for a lawsuit -- or maybe that is not the Finnish tradition as it is in the US. Or maybe it's a test for toughness because the Finns do pride themselves on their strong character ("grandpa can still get down those stairs if he just moves with determination"). Coupled with a strong desire to avoid corrosive or toxic substances. This may be it. But I find it very hard to give off the image of a strong character when I use both hands on the same railing and a sort of sideways shuffle to protect my pride if not my bones.